Early ship resupplying at sea, such as an attempt with HMS Captain in 1870, was slow and often hazardous.

Prior to underway replenishment, coaling stations were the only way to refuel ships far from home. The Royal Navy had an unparalleled global logistics network of coaling stations and the world's largest collier fleet. This capability allowed the Navy to project naval power around the world and far from home ports. This however had two disadvantages: the infrastructure was vulnerable to disruption or attack, and its use introduced a predictable pattern to naval operations that an enemy could exploit.[1]

Early attempts at refuelling and restocking at sea had been made as far back as 1870, when HMS Captain of the Channel Squadron was resupplied with coal at a rate of five tons per hour. However, the speed was far too slow to be generally practicable and calm weather was required to keep the neighbouring ships together.[1]

Lieutenant Robert Lowry was the first to suggest the use of large-scale underway replenishment techniques in an 1883 paper to the think tankRoyal United Services Institute. He argued that a successful system would provide a minimum rate of 20 tons per hour while the ships maintain a speed of five knots. His proposal was for transfer to be effected through watertight coal carriers suspended from a cable between the two ships.[2] Although his concept was rejected by the Admiralty, the advantages of such a system were made apparent to strategists on both sides of the Atlantic. Over 20 submissions were made to the RN between 1888 and 1890 alone.[1]

Schematic for a Temperley transporter, a crane for hauling heavy loads, and used in early UR trials in 1898.

The main technical problem was ensuring a constant distance between the two ships throughout the process. According to a report from The Times, a French collier had been able to provision two warships with 200 tons of coal at a speed of six knots using a Temperley transporter in 1898.[1]

The United States Navy also became interested in the potential of underway replenishment. Lacking a similar collier fleet and network of coaling stations, and embarking on a large naval expansion,[3] the Navy began conducting experiments in 1899 with a system devised by Spencer Miller and the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Company of New York. His device kept a cable suspended between the two ships taut, with a quick-release hook that could travel up and down the line with the use of a winch.[4] The first test of the device involved the collier Marcellus and battleship Massachusetts.[5]

The RN embarked on more extensive trials in 1901, and reached a speed of 19 tons per hour. To meet the requirement for a rate of at least 40 tons per hour, Miller implemented a series of further improvements, such as improving the maintenance of tension in the cable, allowing for heavier loads to be supported.[6]

Trials of the Metcalfe system in 1902 between the battleship HMS Trafalgar and collier.

Miller also collaborated with the British Temperley Company, producing an enhanced version, known as the Temperley-Miller system. RN trials with this new system in 1902 achieved an unprecedented average rate of forty-seven tons per hour and a peak rate of sixty tons per hour. The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company also patented its "Express equipment", which delivered supplies to the broadside of the ship, instead of from the aft. The company offered the system to the Admiralty, claiming that it had achieved a rate of 150 tons per hour, but the offer was turned down.[1]

A Royal Navy engineer, Metcalf, put forward an alternative system in 1903, where two cables were used, and the cable tension was maintained with the use of a steam ram. Trials were held in 1903, which demonstrated an optimal operating speed of 10 knots with a transfer rate of 54 tph.[7] Although it was a superior system and met with a formal endorsement from the Admiralty there is little evidence that such equipment was ultimately put to any operational use by any Navy.[8] Two years later, in May 1905, the U.S. Navy tested an improved Miller-Lidgerwood rig using the Marcellus and the battleship Illinois near Cape Henry. These coaling tests achieved 35 tph while steaming at seven knots, which still fell short of expectations.[9][10]

None of these coal systems ever approached the transfer rates required to make RAS practicable, considering that a battleship required over 2000 tons and even a small destroyer required 200. It was only with the transition to oil as the main fuel for ships at sea, that underway replenishment became genuinely practicable.[1]

The USS Maumee (AO-2) oil tanker achieved the first operational UR in 1917.

The first operational underway replenishment was achieved by the United States Navy oiler USS Maumee. Following the declaration of war, 6 April 1917, she was assigned duty refueling at sea the destroyers being sent to Britain. Stationed about 300 miles south of Greenland, Maumee was ready for the second group of U.S. ships to be sent as they closed on her 28 May 1917. With the fueling of those six destroyers, Maumee pioneered the Navy’s underway refueling operations under the direction of Maumee's Chief Engineer Chester Nimitz, thus establishing a pattern of mobile logistic support which would enable the Navy to keep its fleets at sea for extended periods, with a far greater range independent of the availability of a friendly port.[11]

While during the interwar period most navies pursued the refueling of destroyers and other small vessels by either the alongside or astern method, it was the conventional wisdom that larger warships could neither be effectively refueled astern nor safely refueled alongside, until a series of tests conducted by now-Rear Admiral Nimitz in 1939-40 perfected the rigs and shiphandling which made the refueling of any size vessel practicable.

This was used extensively as a logistics support technique in the Pacific theatre of World War II, permitting US carrier task forces to remain at sea indefinitely.[12] Since it allowed extended range and striking capability to naval task forces the technique was classified so that enemy nations could not duplicate it.[13] Presently, most underway replenishments for the United States Navy are handled by the Military Sealift Command. It is now used by most, if not all, blue-water navies.

Germany used specialized submarines (so-called milk-cows) to supply hunter U-boats in the Atlantic during World War II. However, these were relatively ponderous, required both submarines to be stationary on the surface, took a long time to transfer stores, and needed to be in radio contact with the replenished boat, all conspiring to make them rather easy targets. Due to this, those not sunk were soon retired from their supply role.

Although time and effort has been invested in perfecting underway replenishment procedures, they are still hazardous operations.[14]

Example of close-in fueling rig being used during World War II. View from the USS Manatee (AO-58) as the oiler, traveling at 12 knots, replenishes a US battleship during the Battle of Okinawa, April–June 1945.

The alongside connected replenishment (CONREP) is a standard method of transferring liquids such as fuel and fresh water, along with ammunition and break bulk goods. The supplying ship holds a steady course and speed, generally between 12 and 16 knots. Moving at speed lessens relative motion due to wave action and allows better control of heading.[15] The receiving ship then comes alongside the supplier at a distance of approximately 30 yards. A gunline, pneumatic line thrower, or shot line is fired from the supplier, which is used to pull across a messenger line. This line is used to pull across other equipment such as a distance line, phone line, and the transfer rig lines. As the command ship of the replenishment operation, the supply ship provides all lines and equipment needed for the transfer. Additionally, all commands are directed from the supply ship.

Close-in fueling rig as used through World War II

Because of the relative position of the ships, it is possible for some ships to set up multiple transfer rigs, allowing for faster transfer or the transfer of multiple types of stores. Additionally, many replenishment ships are set up to service two receivers at one time, with one being replenished on each side.

Span-wire fueling rig as used since 1945

Most ships can receive replenishment on either side. Aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy, however, always receive replenishment on the starboard side of the carrier. The design of an aircraft carrier, with its island/navigation bridge to starboard, does not permit replenishment to the carrier's port side.

Alongside connected replenishment is a risky operation, as two or three ships running side-by-side at speed must hold to precisely the same course and speed for a long period of time. Moreover, the hydrodynamics of two ships running close together cause a suction between them. A slight steering error on the part of one of the ships could cause a collision, or part the transfer lines and fuel hoses. At a speed of 12 knots, a 1 degree variation in heading will produce a lateral speed of around 20 feet per minute.[16] For this reason, experienced and qualified helmsmen are required during the replenishment, and the crew on the bridge must give their undivided attention to the ship's course and speed. The risk is increased when a replenishment ship is servicing two ships at once.

In case of emergency, crews practice emergency breakaway procedures, where the ships will separate in less-than-optimal situations.[17] Although the ships will be saved from collision, it is possible to lose stores, as the ships may not be able to finish the current transfer.

Following successful completion of replenishment, many US ships engage in the custom of playing a signature tune over the replenished vessel's PA system as they break away from the supplying vessel. In the Royal Australian Navy it is customary for ships to fly a special flag during the RAS operation, distinctive to each ship. As many ships are named for Australian towns and cities, it is often the case that they fly flags of AFL, NRL or A-League teams associated with that town or city. The flying of flags popularising brands of beer or other alcoholic beverages is also not uncommon.

The earliest type of replenishment, rarely used today, is astern fueling. In this method, the receiving ship follows directly behind the supplying ship. The fuel-supplying ship throws a marker buoy into the sea and the receiving ship takes station with it. Then the delivering ship trails a hose in the water that the fuel-receiving ship retrieves and connects to. This method is more limited, as only one transfer rig can be set up. However, it is safer, as a slight course error will not cause a collision. US Navy experiments with Cuyama and Kanawha led the Navy to conclude that the rate of fuel transfer was too slow to be useful. But the astern method of refueling was used by the German and Japanese Navies during World War II; and this method was still used by the Soviet navy for many decades thereafter.

A third type of underway replenishment is vertical replenishment (VERTREP). In this method, a helicopter lifts cargo from the supplying ship and lowers it to the receiving ship. The main advantage of this method is that the ships do not need to be close to each other, so there is little risk of collision; VERTREP is also used to supplement and speed stores transfer between ships conducting CONREP. However, the maximum load and transfer speeds are both limited by the capacity of the helicopter, and fuel and other liquids cannot be supplied via VERTREP.

1.
HMS Eagle (R05)
–
HMS Eagle was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, in service 1951–1972. With her sister ship Ark Royal, she was one of the two largest Royal Navy aircraft carriers yet built and she was initially laid down on 24 October 1942 at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast as one of four ships of the Audacious class. These were laid down during World War II as part of the British naval buildup during that conflict, two were cancelled at the end of hostilities, and the remaining two were suspended. Originally designated Audacious, she was renamed as Eagle, taking the name of the third ship of the class on 21 January 1946. She was finally launched by Princess Elizabeth on 19 March 1946, several changes were incorporated into the design, although Eagle was launched too early to see an angled flight deck installed, and the ship was commissioned in October 1951. A year later she took part in the first large NATO naval exercise, Exercise Mainbrace, in 1953 Eagle took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Her first wartime service came in 1956, when she took part in the Suez Crisis, the ships aircraft of that period included Westland Wyverns, Douglas Skyraiders, Hawker Sea Hawks and de Havilland Sea Venoms. Eagle was instead given an austere but extensive modernization that provided greater radar. The changes included improvements to the accommodation, including the installation of air conditioning. The flight deck was modified and included a new 2½ inch armoured deck with a full 8.5 degree angle, as well as an overhaul of the DC electrical systems, AC generators were also fitted to give additional power. In 1959 Eagle entered Devonport Dockyard to begin this extensive refit, by May 1964 the refit was complete. Standard displacement had increased to around 44,100 tons and Eagle was now the largest aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy, total cost of the refit was £31 million. In 1964-5 it was claimed Eagle and the proposed CVA01 and half sized Hermes would be a three carrier fleet until 1980. Victorious would have been replaced by CVA01 in 1973, in reality the 1958 Royal Navy assessment was with affordable modernization of the existing carrier fleet, only HMS Hermes would be effective after 1975 and she was too small. In early 1966 Eagle was refitted at Devonport once more and was fitted with a single DAX II arrestor wire, Eagle was originally intended to receive a further refit that would have enabled her to comfortably operate the McDonnell Douglas Phantom. It was also planned to fit bridle catchers to the catapults as a cost-saving measure, during the Phantom FG1 trials the longer waist catapult was used, and a thick steel plate was chained to the deck behind the catapult to absorb the heat of the Phantoms afterburners. The JBD was not used as it would have been damaged, to preserve Eagle in maintained or unmaintained reserve would require refits, estimated at around £4m, every 3–4 years, and maintenance crew of 350–400 Navy personnel for 1. 5-2 million pounds a year. Reactivation would take four and a half months to a year, the 1966 decision to run-down the RN fixed wing carrier fleet meant Eagles days were numbered

2.
RFA Wave Knight (A389)
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Wave Knight was built by VSEL in Barrow-in-Furness, being launched in 2000. She was accepted into service in 2003 and is the ship to bear this name in RFA service. Wave Knight and her sister Wave Ruler replaced the elderly Olna and Olwen and she is currently commanded by Captain Ross Ferris, RFA. Wave Knight has a crew of 80 Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel with provision for a further 22 Royal Navy personnel to conduct helicopter. She carries a medical team and sick bay and is capable of distributing 2,000 emergency relief packages in times of crisis. The ship has the capability to supply fuel and other cargo to vessels using replenishment rigs on port and starboard beams. When providing support for operations, Wave Ruler is also able to deliver fuel to dracones positioned alongside. In addition to fuel, the ship carries ammunition and other stores which can be transferred while underway and she can operate a Merlin HM1 helicopter, or other helicopters of similar size, from a hangar and flight deck at the stern. Three of the Chicoutimis crew were airlifted to hospital in Ireland, at 0800, the ship received a distress call from MV Handy Tankers Magic indicating that they were under attack by pirates and requesting assistance. Arriving on the scene, Wave Knight gave chase to the skiff and using its weapons as cover, held it. 13 hostages were released and the weapons were destroyed. Within two hours, another call was received by Wave Knight from the vessel MV Front Ardennes. Arriving to give support, the ship prevented the pirates from boarding the tanker, firing warning shots, with helicopters from the NATO task group ships HMCS Winnipeg and USS Halyburton, Wave Knight gave chase for six hours, until the HMCS Winnipeg arrived, disarming the pirates. The then commanding officer of Wave Knight, Captain Pilling, said and our primary role is refuelling and aviation operations, but we are fully capable of conducting anti-piracy operations in and around the Horn of Africa. We have been on station for over a year providing support to many nations, on 23 October 2009, personnel aboard Wave Knight witnessed the kidnapping by Somali pirates of two British citizens, Paul and Rachel Chandler, from the yacht Lynn Rival. Despite coming to within 15 m of the vessel, they did not intervene for fear of endangering their lives. In 2009–2010, the ship underwent a re-fit in Liverpool, as of February 2011, she was back in service. On 25 April 2011, Wave Knight left Portland and joined the COUGAR11 deployment, the first of the Response Force Task Group deployments, the deployment also saw her take part in Exercise Cypriot Lion, off the coast of Cyprus

3.
HMS Ark Royal (R07)
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HMS Ark Royal was a light aircraft carrier and former flagship of the Royal Navy. She was the third and final vessel of Invincible-class and she was built by Swan Hunter on the River Tyne and launched by them in 1981. Ark Royal was named by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and she followed sister ships HMS Invincible and HMS Illustrious into service in 1985. Affectionately known as The Mighty Ark, she is the fifth Royal Navy ship to have borne the name of the 1587 flagship that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. Slightly larger than her sister ships, and with a steeper ski-jump ramp, Ark Royal carried the STOVL Harrier Jump Jet aircraft, as well as various helicopters. With a crew complement of over 1,000 sailors and aviators, she saw service in the 1990s Bosnian War. Originally due to be retired in 2016, Ark Royal was instead decommissioned on Friday 11 March 2011, as part of the Navy restructuring portion of the 2010 Strategic Defence, after Ark Royals decommissioning HMS Albion replaced her as the Royal Navy flagship. Ark Royal was sold for scrap to the Turkish company Leyal Ship Recycling and her keel was laid by Swan Hunter at Wallsend on 7 December 1978. She was launched on 2 June 1981 sponsored by the Queen Mother, the unfinished Ark Royal was reportedly offered for sale to the Royal Australian Navy in 1981. HMS Invincible was later offered for sale instead, Ark Royal was deployed in 1993 to the Adriatic during the Bosnian War under the command of Captain Terry Loughran RN. In May 1999 she put into Rosyth for refitting, which included the removal of the Sea Dart missiles and she was recommissioned on 22 November 2001 by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. During operations in the war two Westland Sea King helicopters, from 849 Naval Air Squadron, collided in mid-air with the loss of six British and her deployment to the gulf was filmed throughout by Shine TV for a Channel 5 documentary entitled Ark Royal. In April 2004 Ark Royal entered into extended readiness, following which she entered refit with the return to service of Illustrious, on 16 November 2006 a British Army WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter landed on Ark Royal for the first time marking an increase in the carriers capability. On 22 March 2007, Ark Royal was returned to the Royal Navy Fleet after a two-year refit worth £18 million. As of May 2007, she again became the Fleet Flagship, reclaiming the title from her sister ship, Illustrious. On 31 July 2008, Mansergh was relieved as captain by Captain John Clink, in October 2008, Ark Royal was a participant in Exercise Joint Warrior 08-2. In January 2009 Ark Royal visited Liverpool and then the River Tyne and her voyage from Portsmouth to Liverpool was made with 108 Cadets from the Sea Cadet Corps and the Combined Cadet Force embarked. During this time a V-22 Osprey visited the ship, again increasing its capabilities, a campaign was begun in November 2010 to retain the name Ark Royal for one of the new carriers

4.
NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved

5.
Commonwealth of Nations
–
The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as simply the Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Commonwealth dates back to the century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which established the states as free. The symbol of free association is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The Queen is also the monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, the other Commonwealth members have different heads of state,31 members are republics and five are monarchies with a different monarch. Member states have no obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their values of democracy, free speech, human rights. These values are enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth covers more than 29,958,050 km2, 20% of the worlds land area, and spans all six inhabited continents. She declared, So, it marks the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations. As long ago as 1884, however, Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, had described the changing British Empire—as some of its colonies became more independent—as a Commonwealth of Nations. Conferences of British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887, the Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. Newfoundland never did, as on 16 February 1934, with the consent of its parliament, Newfoundland later joined Canada as its 10th province in 1949. Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute in 1942 and 1947 respectively, after World War II ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled. Most of its components have become independent countries, whether Commonwealth realms or republics, there remain the 14 British overseas territories still held by the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word British was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature, burma and Aden are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Hoped for success was reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the four minute mile in 1954, however, the humiliation of the Suez Crisis of 1956 badly hurt morale of Britain and the Commonwealth as a whole. More broadly, there was the loss of a role of the British Empire. That role was no longer militarily or financially feasible, as Britains withdrawal from Greece in 1947 painfully demonstrated, Britain itself was now just one part of the NATO military alliance in which the Commonwealth had no role apart from Canada

6.
Royal Navy
–
The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive

7.
Admiralty
–
The new Admiralty Board meets only twice a year, and the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy is controlled by a Navy Board. It is common for the authorities now in charge of the Royal Navy to be referred to as simply The Admiralty. The title of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom was vested in the monarch from 1964 to 2011, the title was awarded to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh by Queen Elizabeth II on his 90th birthday. There also continues to be a Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom, the office of Admiral of England was created around 1400 although there had already been Admirals of the Northern and Western Seas. In 1546, King Henry VIII established the Council of the Marine, later to become the Navy Board, operational control of the Royal Navy remained the responsibility of the Lord High Admiral, who was one of the nine Great Officers of State. In 1628, Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission, the office of Lord High Admiral passed a number of times in and out of commission until 1709 after which the office was almost permanently in commission. In 1831, the first Navy Board was abolished as a separate entity, in 1964, the Admiralty along with the War Office and the Air Ministry as separate departments of state were abolished, and re-emerged under one single new Ministry of Defence. Within the expanded Ministry of Defence are the new Admiralty Board which has a separate Navy Board responsible for the running of the Royal Navy. The Army Board and the Air Force Board, each headed by the Secretary of State for Defence, the Board of Admiralty consisted of a number of Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The Lords Commissioners were always a mixture of admirals, known as Naval Lords or Sea Lords and Civil Lords, the quorum of the Board was two commissioners and a secretary. The president of the Board was known as the First Lord of the Admiralty, after 1806, the First Lord of the Admiralty was always a civilian while the professional head of the navy came to be known as the First Sea Lord. The first real concerted effort to organise the Admiralty was started by Henry VIII. Between 1860 and 1908 there was no study of strategy and of staff work conducted within the naval service. All the navys talent flowed to the great technical universitys and it was perceived by officials within the Admiralty at this time that the running of war was quite a simple matter for any flag officer who required no formal training. The new War Staff had hardly found its feet and it struggled with the opposition to its existence by senior officers they were categorically opposed to a staff. The deficiencies of the system within this department of state could be seen in the conduct of the Dardanelles campaign, there was no mechanisms in place to answer the big strategic questions in 1914 a Trade Division was created. In 1916, Sir John Jellicoe came to the Admiralty, he organized the staff as following, Chief of War Staff, Operations, Intelligence, Signal Section, Mobilization, Trade. This for the first time gave the naval staff direct representation on the Board, the would direct all operations and movements of the fleet, while the would be responsible for mercantile movements and anti-submarine operations

8.
The Times
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The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London, England. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, the Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, itself wholly owned by News Corp. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1967 and its news and its editorial comment have in general been carefully coordinated, and have at most times been handled with an earnest sense of responsibility. While the paper has admitted some trivia to its columns, its emphasis has been on important public affairs treated with an eye to the best interests of Britain. To guide this treatment, the editors have for long periods been in touch with 10 Downing Street. In these countries, the newspaper is often referred to as The London Times or The Times of London, although the newspaper is of national scope, in November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in a new font, Times Modern. The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, the Sunday Times remains a broadsheet. The Times had a daily circulation of 446,164 in December 2016, in the same period. An American edition of The Times has been published since 6 June 2006 and it has been heavily used by scholars and researchers because of its widespread availability in libraries and its detailed index. A complete historical file of the paper, up to 2010, is online from Gale Cengage Learning. The Times was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, Walter had lost his job by the end of 1784 after the insurance company where he was working went bankrupt because of the complaints of a Jamaican hurricane. Being unemployed, Walter decided to set a new business up and it was in that time when Henry Johnson invented the logography, a new typography that was faster and more precise. Walter bought the patent and to use it, he decided to open a printing house. The first publication of the newspaper The Daily Universal Register in Great Britain was 1 January 1785, unhappy because people always omitted the word Universal, Ellias changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times. In 1803, Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name, the Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its life, the profits of The Times were very large. Beginning in 1814, the paper was printed on the new steam-driven cylinder press developed by Friedrich Koenig, in 1815, The Times had a circulation of 5,000. Thomas Barnes was appointed editor in 1817

9.
USS Massachusetts (BB-2)
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USS Massachusetts was an Indiana-class battleship and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of the time. Authorized in 1890 and commissioned six years later, she was a battleship, though with heavy armor. The ship class also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery and she was designed for coastal defense and as a result, her decks were not safe from high waves on the open ocean. Massachusetts served in the Spanish–American War as part of the Flying Squadron and took part in the blockades of Cienfuegos and she missed the decisive Battle of Santiago de Cuba after steaming to Guantánamo Bay the night before to resupply coal. After the war she served with the North Atlantic Squadron, performing training maneuvers, during this period she suffered an explosion in an 8-inch gun turret, killing nine, and ran aground twice, requiring several months of repair both times. She was decommissioned in 1906 for modernization, in 1917 she was recommissioned to serve as a training ship for gun crews during World War I. She was decommissioned for the time in March 1919 under the name Coast Battleship Number 2 so that her name could be reused for USS Massachusetts. In 1921 she was scuttled in shallow water off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, the ship was never scrapped and in 1956 it was declared the property of the state of Florida. Since 1993 the wreck has been a Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve and is included in the National Register of Historic Places and it serves as an artificial reef and diving spot. Massachusetts was constructed from a version of a design drawn up by a policy board in 1889 for a short-range battleship. The original design was part of a naval construction plan to build 33 battleships and 167 smaller ships. The ships were limited to defense due to their moderate endurance, relatively small displacement and low freeboard, or distance from the deck to the water. They were however heavily armed and armored, Conways All The Worlds Fighting Ships describes their design as attempting too much on a very limited displacement, the total cost of the ship was almost twice as high, approximately $6,000,000. The contract specified the ship had to be built in three years, but slow delivery of armor plates and guns caused a delay and her keel was laid down on 25 June 1891 and she was launched two years later on 10 June 1893. The launching ceremony was attended by thousands of people, including Secretary of the Navy Hilary A. Herbert and her preliminary sea trial did not take place until March 1896 because of the delays in armor and gun deliveries. At this point Massachusetts was almost complete, and her trial was held a month later. Massachusetts was commissioned on 10 June 1896 with Captain Frederick Rodgers in command and she had her shakedown cruise between August and November 1896, followed by an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard. In February 1897 she made a voyage to Charleston, South Carolina

10.
Naval ram
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A ram was a weapon carried by varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. The weapon comprised an underwater prolongation of the bow of the ship to form an armoured beak and this would be driven into the hull of an enemy ship in order to puncture it and thus sink, or at least disable, the ship. The ram was a weapon in the Greek/Roman antiquity and was used in such naval battles as Salamis. The Athenians were especially known for their diekplus and periplus tactics that disabled enemy ships with speed, rams were first recorded in use at the battle of Alalia in 535 BC. There is evidence available to suggest that it existed much earlier and they appear first on stylized images found on Greek pottery and jewelry and on Assyrian reliefs and paintings. The ram most likely evolved from cutwaters, structures designed to support the joint and allow for greater speed. Many other historical vessels were used as rams, such as the Korean Turtle ship, the Athlit ram, found in 1980 off of the coast of Israel near Atlit, is an example of an ancient ram. Carbon 14 dating of timber remnants date it to between 530 BC and 270 BC. Rams were thought to be one of the weapons of war galleys after c.700 BC. Heavy timbers were shaped and attached to the hull, and then the bronze ram was created to fit around the timbers for added strength, the evidence for this lies in the remnants of timbers found inside the Athlit ram when it was discovered. It was also likely to become stuck in the hull of its target. The Athlit ram consists of a bronze casting weighing 465 kilograms. It is 226 centimetres long with a width of 76 centimetres. The bronze that makes up the shell is a high-quality alloy containing 9. 78% tin with traces of lead, the shell was cast as a single piece to perfectly fit the timbers it protects. The casting of an object as large as the Athlit ram was an operation at the time. The ram comprises three sections – the driving centre, the plate, and the cowl. The driving centre is 30 centimetres long and 76 centimetres wide and this is the area of the ram that makes contact with enemy vessels in battle. The front wall of the head of the ram has the thickest layer of casting at 6.8 centimetres for extra protection during battle, the surface of the ram was decorated with several symbols

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Board of admiralty about 1810.

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